Fire and Water
by LadyShrin
Summary: Yet another B/V 3 years fic. Bulma and Vegeta both have vibrant, fiery personalities. How is it that these two individuals originally came together? This is my take on the classic pairing.


A/N: Since I'm just writing for fun, you don't need to review if you don't want to, but if you see a flaw or you think I'm portraying any character wildly OOC, or that I don't know what I'm talking about when I try to write 'science at work' scenes, don't be afraid to let me know.

Alright. This is my first attempt at a B/V story. I don't write all that often, so please forgive me if my style feels a little stunted. I'll get better with practice, I promise. Also, I -probably- won't write any lemon into this story, just in case that was what you were looking for.

Disclaimer: Don't own DBZ or anything like that. Just writin' fanfiction.

* * *

Bulma sighed as she flew her plane back home, Yamcha in tow. The purple-haired boy from the future had just left, and all the Z warriors were about to prepare for the battle in three years. Bulma knew what this meant. Not only was the future in jeopardy because some _idiot_ 'prince' thought it would be more fun to fight the androids (and even Goku had to agree with him!) but this meant all her friends would be too busy training to hang out with her anymore. Bulma wondered if this meant even Yamcha would be too busy to spend much time with her, as he would inevitably be focusing on his own training. Sigh. He always got really excited at the thought of another big battle. Baseball had never seemed to get him that excited...

That and she knew what was probably waiting for her when she got back to the house. Vegeta. That irritating lunkhead of a prince.... Bulma wondered exactly how _he_ planned to train for the androids.

~*~*~

"What!? He wants a gravity machine that can do 300 times Earth's gravity!?" Bulma shrieked at her father. The old man nodded, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead at his daughter's spirited outburst. She sat down, doing some calculations in her head. "Oh my god. Seriously. How many rotations per second are we going to have to _do_ to get that kind of response... and what about the structural capacity of the Capsule Ship... Not to mention that _idiot_ is going to get himself _killed_ trying to train at that level. What does he think he is?"

Dr Briefs gave his cat a scratch under the chin while he thought. "Well... Goku did fine with 100 times gravity, and he's a Saiyan too. Maybe he'll be okay. I'm not really the expert on Saiyan physiology..."

Bulma sighed. "Well fine, let's give him what he wants. I need something to do anyways."

~*~*~

Bulma was in the lab for the third day in a row. Her tools buzzed with life around her as she carefully soldered a part onto the circuit board she was currently working on. This would be a crucial part in the gravity generation computer. Thank god it had to go in a part of the ship that wouldn't be subjected to 300 times gravity, simply due to how the electromagnetic fields worked. She couldn't fathom how she would ever manage to build the device if it had to take that kind of pressure. She was just... about... done... when from right behind her came a loud "WOMAN"

Bulma jumped with shock, dropping the fragile circuit board on the ground. "Vegeta! Look what you made me do!" she yelled as she turned to look at him. "What do you want?"

He glared at her. "Where is my gravity machine?"

"We are working on it! What, did you think they magically came out of nowhere? You may be a prince, but certainly you know these things take time," she said. She glared right back, her frown a clear challenge to the prince to start an argument.

"It has been three days now. I am wasting time I _could_ be spending training arguing with you over my machine!"

"Oh, give it a rest, tough guy." She crossed her arms, still giving Vegeta the death glare. "Maybe you should take the time to relax. Check out the sights. Watch some TV or something. We have satellite you know."

"I watched enough of your damnable TV while we waited for the Namekian dragonballs! Every minute I waste Kakarot is getting stronger! Surely you know that!" His temper was rising.

"Well, good! Then I won't be so worried when those killer androids come to wipe us all out. Now go away, I'm _trying_ to finish your gravity machine."

He growled in anger at her, fist shaking, as if he were about to explode and break something. But he managed to reign in his temper before then. "Hmph," he growled before walking away from her. She had turned back to her work, picking up the now broken circuit board and trying to remember where she was. However, she turned back to watch his receding form as he left the lab.

~*~*~

Vegeta left the main building and flew up to the roof. There he lay back and looked up. The sun was setting, and stars were becoming visible overhead as darkness set in. The stars here were so faint, compared to the bright and shining heavens he could see from the windows of Freiza's ship. He let his thoughts wander, and found them wandering to the mystery of the female species.

He hadn't had much opportunity to associate with women before, particularly as an adult. Women among Freiza's army were rare, and those that he had met were either coupled with the male officers or soldiers themselves. Those of the former group were not among those he associated with, unless they were conveniently able to do his bidding, and then either ignored or destroyed for disobeying him. The latter... he had largely ignored. None of them were Saiyan women, none of them were even close to his power level, and thus none of them were worth associating with. Unless, of course, it was necessary for achieving some goal or satisfying one of Freiza's inane orders.

Here on Earth, the role he was used to was reversed. The woman did not fear him, as most women he had encountered before had done. Not only that, but he couldn't destroy her. At first, she had been necessary in bringing Kakarot back to life so he could learn the secret of the Super Saiyan from him. After he had learned the fool was still alive, he had chased him into space, only to find cold emptiness and scattered, outlying remnants of Freiza's army. Now, he needed the woman to build the gravity machine for him, and he wouldn't be able to destroy her for failure or backtalk.

So, he needed to learn how to handle her. Perhaps, how to push her buttons to get her to do what he wanted her to do. First though, he would need to allow her to finish the gravity machine. If he experimented on her now, he would never get the damn machine. Besides.... a rumbling of his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten for a whole hour. And a delicious smell was wafting up from that woman's mother's kitchen...

"Vegeta! Where are you, honey? I made a delicious meal for you!" Vegeta glanced down to see that woman called Bunny standing just outside the door, shouting out into what she perceived as darkness. "Vegeta honey, come get it, it's getting cold! Oh, and I have a lovely chocolate cake for you after you finish eating dinner!"

~*~*~

Bulma sat stunned while watching Vegeta eat, thinking to herself. _Why is it that I can never get used to Saiyans eating?_ The dishes were piled at least a foot into the air, all his. _Well, at least he has better table manners than Goku!_

~*~*~

"Finally, it's done!" Bulma danced with her father as they tested the machine. 300 times gravity, no mishaps! "Well good," her father said, "With that structural integrity, it should handle everything he can throw at it.... I hope."

"All right! Let's go give him the good news! I'm sure he'll wanna get started right away!" Bulma ran off before her father could stop her.

"Well, those two... with their tempers, I hope everything will be alright... Don't you think so, kitty?" Dr Briefs scratched the kitty's chin as he watched Bulma enter the building.

Vegeta was training himself on the other side of the compound. If he could not increase his strength with the gravity machine, he could at least work on his flexibility and dexterity at normal gravity, especially considering that Kakarot was such an idiot that strengthening his mind would probably be a waste of time. As he was outside, especially with his Saiyan hearing, he heard a clock tower in a nearby part of town ring the hour, and decided it was time to check on his gravity machine. He burst into the air to fly to where the woman and the old man were working on the machine. A few seconds later, an irritated Bulma passed through the door into the courtyard. "Damnit, he's not here either..." and turned back to search another part of the building.

"Finally, it's done!" Vegeta crowed, and immediately went up the ramp into the vessel. He pumped the gravity up, deciding that the best place to start would be around 150 gravities. A few minutes later, Bulma dejectedly walked back into that courtyard to find her father watching what appeared to be a small light show from the Capsule Ship's windows.

"I couldn't find him..." she mentioned sadly.

"Oh? I thought you did. He's already inside."

"He is? Ugh, men!" was all she said before wandering off in disgust. What she didn't admit to herself, was that she was really angry because she had been cheated of a chance to talk with Vegeta.

~*~*~

"WOMAN!" Bulma jumped, dropping the magazine she had been reading. She glared at the prince, who just so _happened_ to be blocking her sunshine.

"What is it _now_, Vegeta?" She stood up, attempting to edge her chair someplace where the prince would no longer be stopping her from getting a gorgeous summer tan.

"Your gravity machine is no longer sufficient! I also require training programs!" Vegeta edged in her way, glaring down at her irritably.

"You want what? You already spend more time in that damn machine than is healthy!" She wondered how he maintained his own tan, considering he spent his time out of the sun. By the way, the sun looked great on his muscular arms. Maybe she could enjoy the view instead.

"Do you want the androids to kill you?" A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead as he realized exactly what her eyes were doing.

"Fine, Vegeta. I'll do it, but only if it means you'll leave me alone for awhile." Regrettably, Bulma decided that as long as Vegeta was around, a summer tan was sadly impossible.

~*~*~

Bulma was typing on a screen. "Oh jeez. I hate writing these things..." she said to herself, examining the code.

"Hmmmm...."

if(energy 100000)

{

attack = true;

}

"No, no, that's not going to be enough. Damnit. Vegeta! Where the hell are you!?" Bulma sprung out of her chair to go looking for him, only to find him standing right behind her. She gasped in surprise.

"Woman, where is my training program?" He glared angrily at her. This would be a good opportunity to test her.

"I was just about to come find you! I need your help with this." She smiled, clearly an attempt to win his favour for this 'help' she needed.

"Help with what?" His eyebrow shot up as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"This! I'm writing the AI for your stupid training program! But I need you to help me. I reverse engineered that Scouter we got from Raditz and made a copy of the program that determined power level, and I created a device that picks it up. It was hard because the thing blew up! We were..."

"Get to the point." Vegeta was inwardly pleased, she looked irritated as he interrupted her.

"We were GOING to use it in your training program, but I need to know the scale to write this damn thing."

"The scale?" Eyebrow shot up again.

"How much power you have! You're always so..." Good, she looked like she was gonna blow.

"Fine, where is your device?" He uncrossed his arms and began to look around, as if he expected it to be somewhere in the room.

"It's right over he—" As she pointed, Vegeta stretched out his hand and released a ki blast at a random project near the device, laughing as she covered her arms to fend off the debris.

"Vegeta! Not like that! God! You're so... irritating! You are such an idiot!" This was perfect. The trick was to get her angry. If nothing was accomplished, at least he would entertain himself watching her blow up at him.

"I just need you to power up! Stand there and scream for awhile and make yourself shiny, like Goku does, I'll sit at this computer and take a reading." She sat down, expectantly waiting for him to start what she asked.

"Forget it. I'm going back to train. This shouldn't be all that difficult. It's _just_ a training program." And with a satisfied grin, he left the room.

"FINE! I'll just... figure out a way to make it more dynamic... it'll just TAKE LONGER!" she yelled the last few lines after him, fuming when he gave no response.

~*~*~

"Finally, it's finished!" Bulma held up one of the small defense bots, satisfied that she had created a sufficient AI to aid her Saiyan prince for now. She could and would improve on it at her leisure, but for now, the sunlight was calling. Her father was truly ingenious; having discovered a way the bots could even reflect an energy type like ki blasts. As a matter of fact, now he was excited about the technology and wanted to experiment further with it. A personal shield, perhaps? The possibilities were endless!

"Dad, why don't you give these to that idiot? I'm still pissed off at him for destroying my anti-wrinkle machine. That's a project I'll never have the heart to redesign... Sigh..." Bulma looked up at the ceiling, dreaming of missed opportunity.

"I don't know, I'm pretty pissed off he destroyed my favourite... uh... Capsule pack..." Dr Briefs was blushing slightly.

"Ugh, I did not need to know about those... But, fine. I'll do it." Bulma pressed a button on the main lab computer, bringing up the communications device to the ship. "Vegeta! Come out of there, we have your stupid training program!"

Only a minute passed before he arrived at the lab. "Give it to me, now," he demanded.

"Ah ah, what do you say? You're a prince, don't they teach you manners?" From the look on her face, she was clearly having entirely too much fun with this. Vegeta could tell, she was revelling in this power she had over him.

"Fine. . Is that good enough for you!?" Vegeta was irritated. How could she!? They were all the same, holding him hostage like Freiza did. First, his father. Then, his need for revenge. Now, his training program. They all wanted something from him. Power crackled across his skin as he began to have difficulty controlling his temper.

The woman finally looked a little frightened. But surprisingly, she did not cower. Instead, she stepped forward and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Vegeta, it's good enough. Now let's go get this thing installed."

* * *

A/N Let it forever be written that the text editor is useless and that converting that to html is hellish. There's nothing like searching a wall of text for paragraph tags at 4am when you need to be up early. And praying my nbsp works. I guess I can only blame myself. *sigh*


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